Latvian language

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Latvian
Latvie u valoda
Native to
Latvia
Region Baltic
Native speakers
1.75 million (2015)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
Baltic
Eastern Baltic
Latvian
Writing system
Latin (Latvian alphabet)
Latvian Braille
Official status
Official language in
Latvia
European Union
Regulated by
Latvian State Language Center
Language codes
ISO 639-1
lv
ISO 639-2
lav
ISO 639-3
lav
inclusive code
Individual codes:
lvs Standard Latvian language
ltg Latgalian language
Glottolog
latv1249[2]
Linguasphere
54-AAB-a
{{{mapalt}}}
Use of Latvian as the primary language at home in 2011 by municipalities of Latv
ia
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, yo
u may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
Latvian (latvie u valoda) is the official state language of Latvia. It is also som
etimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.3 million native Latvian speake
rs in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Altogether, 2 million, or 80% of the population
of Latvia, speak Latvian.[3] Of those, 1.16 million or 56% use it as their prim
ary language at home.[4] The use of the Latvian language in various areas of soc
ial life in Latvia is increasing.[5]
Latvian is a Baltic language and is most closely related to Lithuanian, which ar
e partially mutually intelligible. In addition there is some disagreement whethe
r Latgalian and New Curonian, which are mutually intelligible with Latvian, shou
ld be considered varieties or separate languages.
Latvian first appeared in Western print in the mid-16th century with the reprodu
ction of the Lord's Prayer in Latvian in Sebastian Mnster's Cosmographia Universa
lis (1544), in Latin script.
Contents [hide]
1
Classification
2
History
3
Dialects
3.1
Livonian dialect
3.2
Middle dialect
3.3
High Latvian dialect
4
Non-native speakers

5
Grammar
5.1
Nouns
5.2
Verbs
6
Orthography
6.1
Standard orthography
6.2
Old orthography
6.3
Latvian on computers
6.4
Comparative orthography
7
Phonology
7.1
Consonants
7.2
Vowels
7.3
Pitch accent
8
Bibliography
8.1
Literary histories in Latvian
9
References
10
Further reading
11
External links
Classification[edit]
Latvian belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is
one of two living Baltic languages with an official status (the other being Lit
huanian). The Latvian and Lithuanian languages have retained many features of th
e nominal morphology of the proto-language, though in matters of phonology and v
erbal morphology they show many innovations[clarification needed], with Latvian
being considerably more innovative than Lithuanian.
History[edit]
Distribution of the Baltic tribes, circa 1200 AD (boundaries are approximate).
In 1649 settlement of the Latvian speaking Kursenieki spanned from Memel (Klaipe
da) to Danzig (Gdansk).
The Baltic languages are of particular interest to linguists because they retain
many archaic features believed to have been present in the early stages of the
Proto-Indo-European language.[citation needed]
There is some evidence to suggest the existence of a Balto-Slavic language group
after the break-up of Proto-Indo-European, with the Slavic and Baltic languages
splitting around the 10th century BC.[citation needed] However, some linguists
Meillet, Klimas, Zinkevicius oppose this view, providing arguments against a Bal
to-Slavic group, and explaining those similarities by one or several periods of
close contacts.[citation needed] There exist a number of Baltic words that are s
imilar to Sanskrit or Latin and which lack counterparts in Slavic languages. Lat
vian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Albanian, Slavic and Indo-Iranian languages are grou
ped as satem languages. While the possession of many archaic features is undenia
ble, the exact manner by which the Baltic languages have developed from the Prot
o-Indo-European language is not clear.
According to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages
split from Western Baltic (or, perhaps, from the hypothetical proto-Baltic lang
uage) between 400 and 600.[citation needed] The differentiation between Lithuani
an and Latvian started after 800, with a long period of being one language but d
ifferent dialects. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th ce
ntury or 15th century, and perhaps as late as the 17th century.[citation needed]
Latvian as a distinct language emerged during several centuries by language spok
en by ancient Latgalian tribe assimilating the languages of other neighboring Ba
ltic tribes - Curonian, Semigallian and Selonian, which resulted in these langua
ges gradually losing their most distinct characteristics. This process of consol
idation started in the 13th century after the Livonian Crusade and forced christ
ianization. These tribes came under Livonian rule thus forming a unified politic

al, economic and religious space.[citation needed]

The oldest known examples of written Latvian are from a 1530 translation of a hy
mn made by Nikolaus Ramm, a German pastor in Riga.[citation needed]
Until the 19th century, the Latvian language was heavily influenced by the Germa
n language, because the upper class of local society was formed by Baltic German
s. In the middle of the 19th century the first Latvian National Awakening was st
arted, led by Young Latvians who popularized the use of Latvian language. Particip
ants to this movement laid the foundations for standard Latvian and also popular
ized the Latvianization of loan words. However, in the 1880s, when Czar Alexande
r III came into power, Russification started. During this period, some Latvian s
cholars[who?] even suggested adopting Cyrillic for use in Latvian. After the cza
r's death, around the start of the 20th century, nationalist movements reemerged
.
In 1908, Latvian linguists Karlis Milenbahs and Janis Endzelins elaborated the m
odern Latvian alphabet, which slowly replaced the old orthography used before. A
nother feature of the language, in common with its sister language Lithuanian, t
hat was developed at that time is that proper names from other countries and lan
guages, no matter how obscure, are altered phonetically to fit the phonological
system of Latvian. Even if the original language also uses the Latin alphabet, t
his process takes place. Moreover, the names are modified in order to ensure tha
t they have noun declension endings, declining like all other nouns. For example
, a place such as Lecropt (a Scottish parish) is likely to become Lekropta; the
Scottish village of Tillicoultry becomes Tilikutrija. This is a good example of
linguistic purism in this ancient language.
During the years of Soviet occupation (1940 41 and 1945 91), the policy of Russifica
tion greatly affected the Latvian language. Throughout this period, many Latvian
s and Latvia s other ethnicities faced deportation and persecution. A massive immi
gration from the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and others followe
d, largely as a result of Stalin's plan to integrate Latvia and the other Baltic
republics into the Soviet Union by means of Russian colonization. As a result,
the proportion of the ethnic Latvian population within the total population was
reduced from 80% in 1935 to 52% in 1989. In Soviet Latvia, most of the immigrant
s who settled in the country did not learn Latvian. Today, Latvian is the mother
tongue of more than 60% of the country's population.[citation needed]
After the re-establishment of independence in 1991, a new policy of language edu
cation was introduced. The primary declared goal was the integration of all inha
bitants into the environment of the official state language, while protecting th
e languages of Latvia's ethnic minorities.[citation needed]
Government-funded bilingual education is available in primary schools for ethnic
minorities. These include Russian, Yiddish, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Bela
rusian, Estonian and Roma schools. Latvian is taught as a second language in the
initial stages too, as is officially declared, in order to encourage proficienc
y in that language, aiming at avoiding alienation from the Latvian-speaking ling
uistic majority and for the sake of facilitating academic and professional achie
vements. Since the mid-1990s, the government may pay a student's tuition in publ
ic universities only provided that the instruction is in Latvian. Since 2004, th
e state mandates Latvian as the language of instruction in public secondary scho
ols (Form 10 12) for at least 60% of class work (previously, a broad system of edu
cation in Russian existed).[citation needed]
The Law on State Language was adopted on December 9, 1999. Several regulatory ac
ts associated with this law have been adopted. Observance of the law is monitore
d by the State Language Centre run by the Ministry of Justice.

To counter the influence of Russian and English, government organizations (namel

y the Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Science and the State Lan
guage Center) try to popularize the use of Latvian terms and linguistic purism.
Purism is often observed in the coining of new terms, which are usually disputed
by the public[citation needed]
although purists have invented some euphonic wor
ds, many neologisms are widely seen as 'alien' and unnecessary, as pre-existing
words could be used instead[citation needed]. For example, a heated debate arose
when the Terminology Commission suggested that eira , with its 'latvianized' endin
g, would be a better term for euro than the widely used eiro . Other new terms are
calques or new loanwords. For example, Latvian has two words for "telephone"
"ta
lrunis" and "telefons", the former being a direct translation into Latvian of th
e latter international term. Still others are older or more euphonic loanwords r
ather than Latvian words. For example, "computer" can be either "dators" or "kom
pjuters". Both are loanwords (the native Latvian word for 'computer' is "skaitlo
tajs"). However, for some time now dators has been considered an appropriate trans
lation.
There are several contests held annually to promote correct use of Latvian.[6][7
] Notably, the State Language Center holds contests for language mistakes, named
"Gimalajie u superlacis" after an infamous incorrect translation of Asiatic Black
Bear. These mistakes, often quite amusing, are both grammatical and stylistic;
sometimes also obvious typos and mistranslations are considered to belong here.
Organizers claim that mistakes are largely collected in areas heavily populated
by Russian-speakers, as well as from Lithuanian-owned chain stores. Mistranslati
ons are not necessarily grammatical, but also stylistic and vocabulary mistakes,
such as literal translations from the English language.
Dialects[edit]
There are three dialects in Latvian: the Livonian dialect, High Latvian and the
Middle dialect. Latvian dialects and their varieties should not be confused with
the Livonian, Curonian, Semigallian and Selonian languages.
Livonian dialect[edit]
Map showing geographical distribution of the dialects in Latvia. Varieties of th
e Livonian dialect (Libiskais dialekts) are in blue, the Middle dialect (Vidus d
ialekts) in green, the Upper dialect (Aug zemnieku dialekts) in yellow.
The Livonian dialect of Latvian was more affected by the Livonian language subst
ratum than Latvian in other parts of Latvia. It is divided into the Vidzeme vari
ety and the Courland variety (also called tamnieku or ventinu). There are two in
tonations in the Livonian dialect. In Courland short vowels in the endings of wo
rds are discarded, while long vowels are shortened. In all genders and numbers o
nly one form of the verb is used. Personal names in both genders are derived wit
h endings
els, -ans. In prefixes ie is changed to e. Due to migration and the in
troduction of a standardised language this dialect has declined. It arose from a
ssimilated Livonians, who started to speak in Latvian and assimilated Livonian g
rammar into Latvian.
Middle dialect[edit]
The Middle dialect is spoken in central and Southwestern Latvia. New Curonian, w
hich used to be spoken along Curonian Spit, is closely related to the varieties
of middle dialect spoken in Courland. The dialect is divided into the Vidzeme va
riety, the Curonian variety and the Semigallian variety. The Vidzeme variety and
the Semigallian variety are closer to each other than to the Curonian variety,
which is more archaic than the other two. There are three intonations in the Mid
dle dialect. In the Semigallian variety, r is still used. Standard Latvian is ba
sed on the middle dialect.
High Latvian dialect[edit]
High Latvian dialect is spoken in Eastern Latvia. It is set apart from rest of t

he Latvian by number of phonetic differences. The dialect has two main varieties
- Selonian and Non-Selonian. There is a standard language, the Latgalian langua
ge, which is based on deep Non-Selonian varieties spoken in south of Latgale. Th
e term "Latgalian" is sometimes also applied to all Non-Selonian varieties or ev
en the whole dialect. However, it is unclear if it is accurate to use the term f
or any varieties besides the standard language. While the term may refer to vari
eties spoken in Latgale or by Latgalians, not all speakers identify as speaking
Latgalian, for example, speakers of deep Non-Selonian varieties in Vidzeme expli
citly deny speaking Latgalian.[8]
Non-native speakers[edit]
The history of the Latvian language (cf. below) has placed it in a peculiar posi
tion for a language of its size whereby it is spoken by a large number of non-na
tive speakers as compared to native speakers. The immigrant and minority populat
ion in Latvia is 700,000 people: Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, and o
thers. The majority of immigrants came to Latvia from 1940 1991; supplementing pre
-existing ethnic minority communities.[citation needed] In a recent survey, 60%
of Latvia's ethnic minorities described their knowledge of Latvian as fluent.[9]
Fluency in Latvian is prevalent among the younger generations of the minorities
.
The adoption of Latvian by minorities was brought about by its status as the onl
y official language of the country, its prominence in the education system, its
sole use in the public sector[citation needed] and by changes in the society aft
er the fall of the Soviet Union that shifted linguistic focus away from Russian.
As an example, in 2007 universities and colleges for the first time received ap
plications from prospective students who had a bilingual secondary education in
schools for minorities. Fluency in Latvian is expected in a variety of professio
ns and careers.
Grammar[edit]
Main article: Latvian grammar
Latvian is an inflecting language with many analytical forms. Primary word stres
s, with a few exceptions, is on the first syllable. There are no articles in Lat
vian, however definiteness is expressed by inflection of adjectives. Basic word
order in Latvian is subject verb object; however, word order is relatively free.
Nouns[edit]
Main article: Latvian declension
There are two grammatical genders in Latvian (masculine and feminine) and two nu
mbers, singular and plural. Nouns and adjectives decline into seven cases: nomin
ative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative. There
are six declensions.
Verbs[edit]
Main article: Latvian grammar Verb conjugation
There are three conjugation classes in Latvian. Verbs are conjugated for person,
tense, mood and voice.
Orthography[edit]
Main articles: Latvian alphabet, Latvian Braille and Latvian orthography
Latvian in Latin script was first based upon the German alphabet, while the alph
abet of the Latgalian dialect was based on the Polish alphabet. At the beginning
of the 20th century, this was replaced by a more phonetically appropriate alpha
bet.
Standard orthography[edit]
Today, the Latvian standard alphabet consists of 33 letters:
A

G
H
I
I
J
K
K
L
L
M
N
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
U
V
Z
a
a
b
c
c
d
e
e
f
g
g
h
i
i
j
k
k
l
l
m
n
n
o
p
r
s
t
u
u
v
z
The modern standard Latvian alphabet uses 22 unmodified letters of the Latin alp
habet (all except Q, W, X and Y). It adds a further eleven letters by modificati
on. The vowel letters A, E, I and U can take a macron to show length, unmodified
letters being short; these letters are not differentiated while sorting (e.g. i
n dictionaries). The letters C, S and Z, that in unmodified form are pronounced
[ts], [s] and [z] respectively, can be marked with a caron. These marked letters
, C,
and
are pronounced [t?], [?] and [?] respectively. The letters G, K, L and
N are written with a cedilla or little 'comma' placed below (or above the lowerc
ase g). They are modified (palatalized) versions of G, K, L and N and represent
the sounds [?], [c], [?] and [?]. Non-standard varieties of Latvian add extra le
tters to this standard set.
Latvian spelling has almost perfect correspondence between graphemes and phoneme
s. Every phoneme has its own letter so that a reader need not learn how a word i
s pronounced, but simply pronounce it. There are only two exceptions to this, wh
ich could cause mispronunciation. The first problem is that the letters E/E repr
esent two different sounds: [?]/[??] and []/[?]. The second problem is that letter
O indicates both the short and long [?], and the diphthong [u?]. These three so
unds are written as O, O and Uo in Latgalian, and some Latvians campaign for the
adoption of this system in standard Latvian. However, the majority of Latvian l
inguists argue that o and o are found only in loanwords, with the Uo sound being
the only native Latvian phoneme. The digraph Uo was discarded in 1914, and the
letter O has not been used in the official Latvian language since 1946. Likewise
, the letters R and Ch were discarded in 1957, although they are still used in s
ome varieties and by many Latvians living beyond the borders of Latvia. The lett
er Y is used only in the standard Latgalian written language, where it is used t
o represent /?/, which is not used in other dialects. Latvian orthography allows
nine digraphs, which are written Ai, Au, Ei, Ie, Iu, Ui, Oi, Dz and D .
Old orthography[edit]
Latvian Lutheran songbook (hymnal) in old orthography.
The old orthography was based on that of German and did not represent the Latvia
n language phonemically. At the beginning it was used to write religious texts f
or German priests to help them in their work with Latvians. The first writings i
n Latvian were chaotic: there were twelve variations of writing . In 1631 the Ger
man priest Georgs (Juris) Mancelis tried to systematize the writing. He wrote lo
ng vowels according to their position in the word a short vowel followed by h fo
r a radical vowel, a short vowel in the suffix and vowel with a diacritic mark i
n the ending indicating two accents. Consonants were written following the examp
le of German with multiple letters. The old orthography was used until the 20th
century when it was slowly replaced by the modern orthography.
Latvian on computers[edit]
The rarely used Latvian ergonomic keyboard layout
Standard QWERTY keyboards are used for writing in Latvian; diacritics are entere
d by using a dead key (usually ', occasionally ~). Some keyboard layouts use the
modifier key AltGr (most notably the Windows 2000 and XP built-in layout (Latvi
an QWERTY), it is also default modifier in X11R6, thus a default in most Linux d
istributions). In the early 1990s, the Latvian ergonomic keyboard layout was dev
eloped. Although this layout may be available with language support software, it
has not become popular because of a lack of keyboards with this layout.

In the 1990s, lack of software support of diacritics caused an unofficial style

of orthography, often called translits, to emerge for use in situations when the
user is unable to access Latvian diacritic marks (e-mail, newsgroups, web user
forums, chat, SMS etc.). It uses the basic Modern Latin alphabet only, and lette
rs that are not used in standard orthography are usually omitted. In this style,
diacritics are replaced by digraphs
a doubled letter indicates a long vowel (as
in Finnish and Estonian); a following j indicates palatalisation of consonants,
i.e., a cedilla; and the postalveolars , C and are written with h replacing the
hcek, as in English. Sometimes the second letter, the one used instead of a diacr
itic, is changed to one of two other diacritic letters (e.g.
is written as ss or
sj, not sh), and since many people may find it difficult to use these unusual m
ethods, they write without any indication of missing diacritic marks, or they us
e digraphing only if the diacritic mark in question would make a semantic differ
ence.[10] Sometimes an apostrophe is used before or after the character that wou
ld properly need to be diacriticised. Also, digraph diacritics are often used an
d sometimes even mixed with diacritical letters of standard orthography. Althoug
h today there is software support available, diacritic-less writing is still som
etimes used for financial and social reasons. As and
are part of the Windows-125
2 coding, it is possible to input those two letters using a numerical keypad.
Comparative orthography[edit]
For example, the Lord's Prayer in Latvian written in different styles:
First orthography
(Cosmographia Universalis, 1544)
Old orthography, 1739[11]
Modern o
rthography
Internet style
Muu?ze Thews exkan tho Debbes Muh?u Tehvs debbe?s
Musu tevs debesis
Muusu teevs debesiis
Sweetyttz thope totws waerdtcz Swehtits lai top taws wahrds
Svetits lai top
tavs vards
Sveetiits lai top tavs vaards
Enaka mums touwe wal?tibe.
Lai nahk tawa wal?tiba Lai nak tava valstiba
Lai naak tava valstiiba
Tows praetcz note?e
Taws prahts lai noteek Tavs prats lai notiek Tavs pra
ats lai notiek
ka exkan Debbes tha arridtczan wuer??on ?emmes k debbe?s t arird?an zemes wirs
ka debesis, ta ari virs zemes kaa debesiis taa arii virs zemes
Mu?ze beni?ke may?e bobe mums ?djoben. Muhsu deeni?chtu maizi dod mums ?chodeen
Musu dieni ko maizi dod mums odien
Muusu dienishkjo maizi dod mums shodien
Vnbe pammet mums mu??e parrabe Un pametti mums muh?u parradus [later parahdus]
Un piedod mums musu paradus
Un piedod mums muusu paraadus
ka mehs pammettam mu??ims parabenekims k arri mehs pamettam ?aweem parrahdneekee
m
ka ari mes piedodam saviem paradniekiem kaa arii mees piedodam saviem pa
raadniekiem
Vnbe nhe wedde mums exkan kaerbena?chenne
Un ne eeweddi muhs eek?ch kahrdi
na?chanas
Un neieved mus kardina ana
Un neieved muus kaardinaashanaa
Seth atpe?thmums no to loune
bet atpe?ti muhs no ta launa [later launa]
bet atpesti mus no launa
bet atpestii muus no ljauna
Aefto thouwa gir ta wal?tibe
Jo tew peederr ta wal?tiba
Jo tev pieder va
lstiba Jo tev pieder valstiiba.
vnbe tas ?peez vnb tas Goobtcz tur mu??ige
un tas ?pehks un tas gods muh?ch
igi [later muhzigi]
speks un gods mu igi
speeks un gods muuzhiigi
Amen
Amen
Amen
Aamen
Phonology[edit]
Main article: Latvian phonology
Consonants[edit]
Labial Dental/Alveolar Post-alveolar/Palatal Velar
Nasal m
n
?
[?]
Stop
p b
t d
c ?
k g
Affricate
t?s d?z
t?? d??

Fricative
(f) v s z
? ?
(x)
Central approximant/Trill
r
j
Lateral approximant
l
?
Voiced and unvoiced consonants assimilate to the next-standing consonant, e.g. a
pgabals ['abgabals] or labs ['laps]. Latvian does not feature final-obstruent de
voicing.
Doubled consonants are pronounced longer: mamma ['mam?a]. Same with plosives and
fricatives located between two short vowels: upe ['up?e]. Same with 'zs' that i
s pronounced as /s?/, s and s as /??/.
Vowels[edit]
Latvian has six vowels, with length as distinctive feature:
Latvian vowels
Front
short long
Close i
Mid
?
Open

/? ??/, and the

ds.

Central Back
short long
short
i?
u
??
(?)
?
a
a?
diphthongs involving it

long
u?
(??)
other than /u?/, are confined to loanwor

Latvian also has 10 diphthongs, four of which are only found in loanwords (/ai u
i ?i au i? u? iu (?i) ?u (?u)/), although some diphthongs are mostly limited to
proper names and interjections.
Pitch accent[edit]
Standard Latvian and, with a few minor exceptions, all of the Latvian dialects h
ave fixed initial stress. Long vowels and diphthongs have a tone, regardless of
their position in the word. This includes the so-called "mixed diphthongs", comp
osed of a short vowel followed by a sonorant.
Bibliography[edit]
Bielenstein, Die lettische Sprache (Berlin, 1863 64)
Bielenstein, Lettische Grammatik (Mitau, 1863)
Bielenstein, Die Elemente der lettischen Sprache (Mitau, 1866), popular in treat
ment
Ulmann and Brasche, Lettisches Wrterbuch (Riga, 1872 80)
Bielenstein, Tausend lettische Rthsel, bersetzt und erklrt (Mitau, 1881)
Bezzenberger, Lettische Dialekt-Studien (Gttingen, 1885)
Bezzenberger, Ueber die Sprache der preussischen Letten;; (Gttingen, 1888)
Thomsen, Berringer melem de Finske og de Baltiske Sprog (Copenhagen, 1890)
Bielenstein, Grenzen des lettischen Volksstammes und der lettischen Sprache (St.
Petersburg, 1892)
Baron and Wissendorff, Latwju dainas (Latvian Folksongs, Mitau, 1894)
Andreianov, Lettische Volkslieder und Mythen (Halle, 1896 )
Bielenstein, Ein glckliches Leben (Riga, 1904)
Brentano, Lehrbuch der lettischen Sprache (Vienna, c. 1907)
Holst, Lettische Grammatik (Hamburg, 2001)
Wolter, "Die lettische Literatur," in Die ost-europische Literaturen (Berlin, 190
8)
Kalning, Kurzer Lettischer Sprachfhrer (Riga, 1910)
Literary histories in Latvian[edit]
Klaushush, Latweeschu rakstneezibas wehsture (Riga, 1907)
Pludons, Latwiju literaturas vesture (Jelgava, 1908 09)
Lehgolnis, Latweeschu literaturas wehsture (Riga, 1908)
Prande, Latvie u Rakstnieciba Portrejas (Riga, 1923)
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Latvian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

Standard Latvian language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

Latgalian language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Jump up ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Ma
rtin, eds. (2013). "Latvian". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolu
tionary Anthropology.
Jump up ^ Da adu tautu valodu prasme(Latvian)
Jump up ^ RESIDENT POPULATION ON MARCH 1, 2011 BY LANGUAGE MOSTLY SPOKEN AT HOME
, GENDER AND AGE GROUP
Jump up ^ Krievvalodigie arvien vairak runa latviski
Jump up ^ "2006. gada vards
"draugoties", nevards
"hendlings"" (in Latvian). Apo
llo. 2007-01-22. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
Jump up ^ BNS (2006-03-30). "Akcija pret valodas kroplo anu aicina nofilmet 'gimal
ajie u laci'" (in Latvian). DELFI. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
Jump up ^ Markus, Dace (2012). "THE DEEP LATGALIAN VARIANTS OF THE HIGH LATVIAN
DIALECT IN NORTH-EAST VIDZEME (SO-CALLED MALENIA)". BALTISTICA (in Latvian) (Vil
nius University) (8 priedas).
Jump up ^ Krievvalodigie arvien vairak runa latviski (Latvian)
Jump up ^ Veinberga, Linda (2001). "Latvie u valodas izmainas un funkcijas interne
ta vide" (in Latvian). politika.lv. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
Jump up ^ BIBLIA, published Riga, 1848 (reprint), original edition 1739; "modern
" old orthographies published into the 20th century do not double consonants
Further reading[edit]
Derksen, Rick (1996). "Metatony in Baltic". Amsterdam: Rodopi.
External links[edit]
Latvian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Latvian language.
For a list of words relating to Latvian language, see the Latvian langua
ge category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Latvian.
Live Latvian-language radio streams online
On line TV in latvian
Latvian Language Law in English
Letonika
Overview of the Latvian Language (en)
State (Official) Language Commission (linguistic articles, applicable laws, etc.
)
English Latvian / Latvian English dictionary
English-Latvian and Latvian English online translation
Latvian English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary
The Rosetta Edition
National Agency for Latvian Language Training
The Latvian Alphabet
Examples of Latvian words and phrases (with sound)
Languages of the World:Latvian
Latvian bilingual dictionaries
Latvian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list a
ppendix)
[show] v t e
Latvia Languages of Latvia
[show] v t e
Latvia articles
[show] v t e
Baltic languages
Authority control
NDL: 00569429
Categories: Latvian languageLanguages of LatviaSubject verb object languages
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